Looking for a more in-depth Amazonic experience?...Why don't you pay us a visit to talk it over?... Well, then the Tambopata Research Center (TRC) suits your needs best. After staying the first night at our Amazonas Lodge, reach out for the largest known Macaw Clay Lick on the second day of your trip and explore the trails of the
TRC in the heart of the Tambopata National Reserve (TNR). Get to know some jungle natives, they'll show you how to fish with bow & arrow or with spears, listen to their narrations about nature, cook your food in their age-old style, paint yourself as a warrior chief ready for battle... and get a lot for our 5-day/4-night stay; and much, much more to be found and done with our expeditions.
DAY 1: Arrival & Reception by the guide
Our guides are biologists, professionals of tourism or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at a 6:1 ratio in the TRC. This means groups smaller than 6 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English, please let us know.
Transfer from airport to Puerto Maldonado headquarters
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you for 10 minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens, we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us to keep the boats and cargo light.
Transfer from Pto. Maldonado headquarters to the Tambopata river port
Taking a detour in Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata river port, entering the Native Community of Infierno (Hell). The port is a communal business for the Ese'eja natives.
Transfer Boat - From the Tambopata river port to the Amazonas Lodge.
The two-and-a-half hour boat ride from the Tambopata port to the Amazonas Lodge will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve's checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1,3 million hectare conservation unit. Box Lunch.
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and give you a briefing with important navigation and security tips. Dinner.
Crocodile Search: We will be out at the river's edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from alligator eyes. Overnight at the Amazonas Lodge.
DAY 2: Breakfast.
Canopy Tower: A thirty-minute walk from the Amazonas Lodge leads to the 25-meter scaffolding canopy tower. A banistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the TNR. From here, views of flocks of mixed species flying as well as toucans, macaws and crocodiles are likely seen.
Transfer Boat - From the Amazonas Lodge to the TRC
Four-and-half hours by boat from the Amazonas Lodge, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the TRC. One-and-half hours into our boat journey, as we cross the confluence with the Malinowski river, we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000-hectare uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capibara, crocodile, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent for you, the visitor.
Box Lunch.
Chuncho Clay Lick: Three hours from the Amazonas Lodge, deep into the TNR we will stop at the Chuncho Clay Lick. After a brief walk (~ 5 min.) we will have the chance to see dozens of large macaws feeding on the special sodium-rich clays of the riverbank. The Chuncho Clay Lick probably attracts more large macaws than any other clay lick in the world and the sight of dozens of macaws taking flight is truly unforgettable. The details of our stopover will depend on the weather and the amount of macaw activity, as the birds don't visit the clay lick when it is raining.
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and give you a briefing with important navigation and security tips.
Overlook Trail: A three-to-five kilometer hike will lead us to obtaining magnificent views of the Tambopata river winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler monkey and Dusky Titi monkey. Dinner.
Macaw Project Lectures: After dinner, scientists will provide an in-depth look at the biology of macaws, their feeding habits, the theories for their clay lick use, their breeding and feeding ecology, population fluctuations and the threats to their conservation. Overnight at the TRC.
DAY 3: Macaw Clay Lick
On most clear mornings of the year, dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discreetely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will see Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-Gold macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn, when the lick is most active. Breakfast.
Floodplain Trail: This five-kilometer trail covers the prototypical rainforest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos (Ironwood) we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin and Spider monkey as well as peccaries. The TRC is located within this habitat. Lunch.
Pond Platform: Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a tiny pond with a platform at the middle. It is a great place to spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, Sunbittern and Hoatzin, along with the woodpeckers, Oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home. Dinner.
Night walk: You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active, easily heard but rarely seen. Much easier to find are the colorful frogs/toads with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories. Overnight at the TRC.
DAY 4: Macaw Clay Lick
On most clear mornings of the year, dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discreetely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will see Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-Gold macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn, when the lick is most active. Breakfast.
Terra Firme Trail: An entirely different habitat characterized by smaller, thinner trees atop hills & slopes is covered by this five-kilometer trail. Saddleback tamarins are frequently found here. As we walk near the limits of the swamp we will also keep our eyes open for rare tapir tracks. Lunch.
Palm Swamp Trail: Growing on the remains of an oxbow lake and providing both arboreal as well as terrestrial mammals with plenty of fruits throughout the year, the Aguaje/Buriti palms are one of the most important food sources in the rainforest. Demand for these fruits and great conditions for planting rice, makes the palm swamp also one of the most threatened habitats. Dinner. Overnight at the TRC.
DAY 5: Breakfast
Transfer Boat - From the TRC to the Tambopata river port.
Transfer from the Tambopata river port to Pto. Maldonado headquarters
Transfer from Puerto Maldonado headquarters to the airport
We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and back to the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.
NOTES:
Tour includes:
- Programs based on double occupancy.
- All meals, accommodations and services, all river transportation and transfers from and to the airport of Puerto Maldonado.
Not included:
- International or domestic air fares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess of baggage charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls or web messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal belonging.
- Boat Transportation: The Qeros Tours Peru boats are 7-meter long, roofed canoes. The outboard engine is a 60hp 4-cycle, eco-friendly, low emission motor.
- Transfers-in (from Puerto Maldonado to the Lodge): We have two departures daily at 13:00 and at 14:30.
- Transfers-out (from the Lodge to Puerto Maldonado): Early transfer at about 5:00am in order to be on time for your flight out that should depart after 13:00 hrs.; please, be sure to not buy early fly outs.
- We reserve the right to change the order of activities.